Roseville

10:42 pm: John and Jet got up early, and went for a walk. They walked
through all the tree covered lanes near here, going steadily up and up and
up, until Jet got so wobbly that John put him on his shoulders, and then
Jet wanted John to go further up. They went to the top of the ridge for
the development and looked out across Watsonville, and finally Jet was
okay with John going back downhill. So they got a mile or two between
them before I even woke up.

I kind of envy them the walk, but I was so tired. The feather comforter
was getting to me, a bit, too, so I wasn't resting as well I as could have
been. Still, it was worth it to just sleep in for a while. I needed it
badly.

By the time I was up and put together, Jet wanted to nurse. So I nursed
him, and put him to sleep in his bed. John and I had breakfast and then
got to talk with Ken and Gab for a while before they had to leave for
something at 10:30. We talked about solar arrays, design for reuse, and
other stuff. It was fun to talk with them about that.

One interesting thing I realized is that I don't have to edit anything or
editorialize on anything with them. That I don't have to explain things
and I don't have to tune out anything they say because it's stuff I
already know. They don't explain any more than they have to or are asked
to. And they're good about explaining things succinctly when they are
asked. It's so cool, and I hadn't really realized how much extra
explaining I do for most people until we just talked with them.

It's very cool.

We also thanked them for the stay, for the dinner, and for their
hospitality. It had been a great visit.

When Jet woke up, we were off. John set up Stitch for Jet. And we took
the 1 up to 280, out to 80, and so on to Sacramento.

The 1 was very pretty and very busy. I loved the buff cliffs to the east
and the lapping blue of the sea below us. There were lots of passing
lanes for quite a while, artichoke farms, strawberry farms, and lots of
ocean. We stopped at a little organic strawberry stand, where it turned
out to be serve yourself, and they had a little change tray and all the
prices marked on all the items, so you could figure it out yourself.
There was even a cheap little calculator in the change box. That bemused
me significantly. But the strawberries were delicious.

280 was a zoo. Especially right through SF, where it was stop and go to
the Bay Bridge. When we got out of all that, headed across Berkley and
stopped at the first gas station that we could find and got $2+/gal gas
for the first time on our trip. There was a deli across the street, so we
picked up sandwiches and headed for the park one of the workers pointed us
to. It was a nice little park, with good play equipment, and Jet climbed
and climbed, going up on one arching ladder that was well above John's
head, but he did it just fine.

We ate our sandwiches, drank our pop, and had some chips in the shade on
our mat while Jet played. Occasionally one or the other of us would go up
to spot Jet, but he did just fine on the most part. That was a good
break, and infinitely better than a McDonald's. We'll have to remember to
do that more often along this trip.

We hit Sacramento right at rush hour, and John was very patient about
getting through it all. With a single sucker after waking up, Jet was
quiet and content to just look at all the cars and trucks in the sea of
vehicles around him. He was pretty amazed by all that. Enough to keep
him occupied until we got to the Petterson's house.

And, wow, what a treasure trove he fond there! Three kids, tons of toys,
and all the kids willing and eager to show him more toys! Happy toddler.
Katie and Robert were great from the get-go, and Josh took a little while
to wake up but was a happy camper after that, and did good competition
with Jet about toys and things to do with them. They had a great time
together, as far as I could tell.

When dinner arrived (wow! GOOD Chinese food delivered!), all their kids
went immediately to the table and started eating. Jet refused to eat
anything, and just played with the cars and toys he'd had up to that
point. I guess he just really needed the playtime. He played with them
when they got down from dinner, and he played with them while they took
their turns at baths.

Josh and Jet had a great time feeding balls into the Rokenbok setup that
they had. The trucks were remote controlled, and the various ball feeds
were switch controlled, and there was a cool conveyor belt that had a
sensor so it would only go when there were balls in the hopper. They
fought, genteelly (i.e. no biting on either side) over the balls, the
trucks and who got to feed what where, but on the most part they played
really well together.

It's amazing seeing them side by side. Josh is a real cutie. They're
both about the same size and they both were pretty interested in each
other.

Katie's a real cutie, too, and she had both John and I reading her her
Stitch book in no time. It was really fun. Robert was quiet and good
about bring other toys out for Jet, too. He's much more grown up, though,
than Jet, and was happy to occupy himself in other ways as well. I'm very
impressed with all the kids and how welcoming everything was. Jet was in
heaven. It was a very, very good break for him after all the adults and
all the non-kid stops up to this point. I think he really needed it.

After all the other kids had gone to bed, he deigned to eat a few Fruit
Loops, drink his milk, and settle down to play a bit with us. He found
some Disneyland light toys that he and Sherylyn played with with each
other. He also played with them with John, and finally took one up with
him to get his teeth brushed and changed into his PJ's. by the time he
nursed, he let go of everything but the trucks, and went to sleep, just
fine, on the kid futon at the foot of our bed. Whew.

I put away the toy, found my digital camera, and got myself ready for
bed. John had gone to sleep while I was nursing Jet, and the two boys
were dead to the world. I sometimes wish I could sleep like they do.
But it's definitely been a good day.

One thing I did want to note about the Petterson's house. Sherlyn often
talks about the house being a mess or something like that in her journal,
but I have to say that it's an impeccably clean house. It's beautifully
clean and neat. It is, however, stuffed to the gills with all kinds of
things. I was just amazed in many ways that they were able to fit so many
things in so many places and have it not be, on the most part, untidy or,
in any way, dirty. It was beautifully clean and amazingly full From all
that, I gained a much, much better perspective on why they didn't want to
move a while ago when they were deciding on some life choices.

I had, for most of my childhood moved about every three to five years. So
our compliment of Stuff has always been mildly spare in ways and I've
always been willing to use stuff up, clean things out, and give to
Goodwill anything I even might not use (including, to my sorrow, a box of
D&D books). I get rid of a lot of Stuff, and, of course, find that
moving is a great opportunity to prune it all down even more. But that
sparseness comes at the cost of always feeling like I have no roots, or
that there is no real permanence to any home I might have.

Planting the tomatoes this year was a tremendously odd thing for me to do
this year. With us being gone for a month, they're likely to be neglected
or die or something. But it felt good to do it, too, as we're likely to
stay here for at least a year. Surrounded by all of Sherylyn's *stuff* I
felt a deep sense of permanence, rootedness, and a sense I'd never had as
a kid of 'things are going to be Just Like This for a while'. I can now
see why it could be a very good thing. That was very cool to experience,
and I don't think I would have been able to understand it if I hadn't
experienced their home and how it feels.